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Home / Browse / Gayophytum / Spreading Groundsmoke (subsp. parviflorum)
iNaturalist — CC, credited & licensed per image
Pictured: Gayophytum diffusum — the species. This subspecies isn’t separately illustrated.
Onagraceae family

Spreading Groundsmoke (subsp. parviflorum) Gayophytum diffusum subsp. parviflorum subspecies

Native Specialist-bee host

Spreading Groundsmoke (subsp. parviflorum) is an annual wildflower native to Canada and the lower 48 states. A host for pollen-specialist native bees.

More about this plant

Gayophytum diffusum is a species of flowering plant in the evening primrose family known by the common name spreading groundsmoke. It is native to western North America where it is a common member of many different habitats. This is a spindly, branching annual herb reaching a maximum height of about half a meter. Its thin stems have sparse narrow leaves a few centimeters long. The occasional flowers are petite and usually white in color. The fruit is a cylindrical, knobby capsule up to 1.5 centimeters long. Wikipedia →

Growing & care

USDA PLANTS · TRY
Conditions
Sources · Conditions
Cold hardiness (derived) — Hardiness
Hardiness
≥ zone 5 derived from its U.S. range
Size & form
Sources · Size & form
USDA PLANTS — Lifespan
Lifespan
Annual
In the garden
Herb layer — Sits in the herb of a layered food forest or polyculture.Open guide →
derived roles
Species characteristics from USDA PLANTS (public domain) + TRY (CC BY) — general guidance, not a guarantee for your exact site. Deer "browsing" is documented palatability, not a deer-proof claim.

Wildlife & pollinators

How pollinator value is scored →
❧ Caterpillar hosts Documented caterpillar host
Named species (a documented Nearctic sample, not exhaustive) from NHM HOSTS (CC0).
✦ Bees specialist-bee host

Specialist native bees depend on it.

Some native bees are pollen specialists (oligolectic) — they raise young only on pollen from particular plant genera. Gayophytum is a recorded specialist-bee host, so losing it can mean losing the bee that relies on it.

Xerces pollinator conservation →
Specialist hosts from Smith et al. 2024.
Species thumbnails re-hosted from iNaturalist — Creative Commons, credited per image (hover for credit). Click any species to see it on iNaturalist. Not exhaustive; many taxa have no openly-licensed photo yet.
Sources for this entry (11) Open & cited
[01] Scientific name & family — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[02] Growth habit & duration — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[03] Native status & distribution — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[04] Common name — USDA PLANTS (via GBIF)
[05] Invasive / introduced status — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — native status
[06] Description — Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
[07] Ecological value — GloBI · Smith et al. 2024 (CC BY)
[08] Conservation rank — NatureServe Explorer (CC BY)
[09] Cold hardiness (derived) — Derived from U.S. range × USDA PHZM zones
[10] Caterpillar species — NHM HOSTS (CC0)
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